Date Drug New Hope
Tony pointed this one out to me early this morning. Evidently, there was a date drugger at a gay bar in New Hope, PA (where I live) and security cameras captured his image in what looks to me like a gay bar on the outskirts of town called, The Raven. (Been there many times.) There was also an alleged credit card/identity theft fraud incident. According to this article, both victim and suspect went back to the victim’s residence…where they were “socializing.”
“Drugged Acquaintance Date – Theft & Credit Card Fraud
“An adult male victim met the pictured male suspect at a known gay bar at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, 11-22-2013. Victim invited the suspect to his residence to continue socializing. When victim uses the bathroom, the suspect “freshens” the victim’s alcoholic beverage, whereupon the victim loses consciousness for approx. 5 hours. Victim awaken nauseous to find the suspect has stolen his wallet, $150 USC, assorted credit cards, and 2 out of sequence blank bank checks.
I love the way they call it “socializing.” So proper and neat (smile).
Free: The Littlest Christmas Tree
My holiday novella, The Littlest Christmas Tree, is now up for free at the following venues. I don’t have all the links, but I’ll update as they come in.
Here’s a link to the blurb, and a short excerpt. The novella is 21,000 words in length.
I’m doing this as a little holiday present for readers who always remain faithful all year long. This is the second book in the Second Chance series and I’ll be putting future titles in the series up throughout 2014 for .99.
Update: On Allromanceebooks.com
At Rainbow Book Reviews: Link
Update #2…The book will be up on Amazon for .99. I wish I could have done this for free, but Amazon will not allow this unless I sign an exclusive for three months and then the book will only be up for free on Amazon for five days, and I can’t put it up for free anywhere else without breach of contract with Amazon. Here’s the Amazon link. Why am I disclosing this? I think readers should know.
Tranny Word
When I spotted this article I was prepared to take a completely different approach to it. But after I read it I couldn’t ignore this even if I tried. It’s an interview with a Brooklyn drag performer, Babes Trust, and one of the most interesting things in the interview I read is how Trust thinks of the word “Tranny.”
This is the question about Tranny as a word:
Some transgender people are critical of drag performers using the word “tranny.” What are your thoughts about it?
Here’s how Babes Trust answered:
I have issues around this wider idea of community; such as the gay “community,” the trans “community” — we are not a generalized generic community or binary. Although we share some basic values, we are many different communities with varying values, speech, meanings, codes and languages.
Tranny means different things to different people. Do I know some people who feel more comfortable with explaining their gender and sexuality as “tranny”? Yes. Its that okay?
By one “community” effectively silencing and oppressing another to “not say” certain words or be so untrusting of people that you believe that everything comes from a place of violence, is sad.
If someone identifies as “tranny,” the people who attack the term as offensive are oppressing the people who have a valid claim over the term.
I agree with Trust, and I find people like that not only oppressive, but bullies.
The reason I find this so interesting is that I once came across a comment thread on romance book review web site best known for its incivility where someone went berserk in a politically correct rampage about how offensive the word “Tranny” is, and frankly I didn’t get that at the time and I still don’t get it now. In full disclosure, ever since then I’ve been terrified to use the word myself for fear of being politically incorrect…or offending someone without realizing it.
However, the word “Tranny” is one I’ve heard all my life in certain LGBT circles, and I’ve never heard it used in a derogatory way. So my point with this is I think Babes Trust makes a highly valid point in being so candid, and those who think they know it all about gay culture don’t even get the tip of what gay culture is really all about. And the only thing that really offends me most as a gay man is when people who aren’t gay start telling me how to be gay.
You can read more of the interview here. Babes Trust is no one’s fool, and it’s been a long time since I’ve read such sharp, intelligent answers. It also shows how Brooklyn is up and coming as its own hot spot.